Computer programs for looking up names in a directory are used throughout businesses, organizations, and even by the general public such as looking up a person's telephone number using a search engine on the World Wide Web. Initially programs required that a person's name be spelled correctly in order for a search to be successful. However, various improvements have been developed to provide an improved and less strict capability.
Richard H. Boivie in U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,217 describes a spelling correction arrangement for finding the name in the directory that most closely resembles the name requested by the user. Assuming the desired name is in a directory, three possibilities one correct and two in error are recursively investigated. A count is kept of the number of errors for each possibility. Those with a higher number of errors than an earlier encountered possibility with a lower number of errors, are discarded leading eventually to the closest matching name. The user may also request any number of additional close names.
Garland et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,835 describe a method of performing a “fuzzy” search for a text string in a stored document. A dissimilarity value is generated for selected text strings from the document based on rules defining differences from a text string query and a weighting value indicating the relative importance of the rule. The selected text strings may then be displayed in order based on their dissimilarity values. The user chooses the correct string and the weighting values are accordingly adjusted based on the user choice.
Marti A. Hearst in U.S. Pat. No. 6,223,145 B1 describes a user interface for creating a search query for documents. The invention uses a cone tree generation method and a category hierarchy. There is a two way interaction with the user with the method suggesting related categories which may be unfamiliar to the user. A search query is generated based on user interaction with a display of suggested categories.
Another type of directory lookup searches for an e-mail address for a particular name. If a person wishes to receive e-mail messages from senders without revealing his/her email address, a directory service as described by Lee et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,769 may be used. The directory service has a database of records of user's e-mail addresses. When a request to send an e-mail to a user is received, the service determines whether or not the user's e-mail address is to be displayed. If not, the service sends the message to the intended recipient without providing the recipient's e-mail address to the requester.
Edward Waskiewicz in U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,526 describes an email directory using proxy addresses associated with e-mail addresses to facilitate the transfer from one e-mail system to another across a gateway.
Kevin Marcus in U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,188 B1 describes another method of protecting the privacy of a person's e-mail address. When a request is received for a person's email address, a proxy address is displayed in lieu of the person's actual email address. The sender is then enabled to send an email message to the party without knowing the person's actual email address.
Polnerow et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,006 describe a method and system of directory service which permits users to retrieve records without authenticating the requesting user. However, if the user wishes to modify a record, such as to update or correct his own listing, then the user can register with the service and upon authentication is permitted to access the user's own record to modify the information that is already present.
Pinard et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,075,851 describe a method of routing calls based on a relationship or organization roles. Relationships of organizational roles are stored in a database including names and directory numbers of persons filling said roles and alternative numbers of temporary persons associated with the roles. In response to a request to complete a call to a directory number associated with a role, the call is processed to an alternate directory number instead of the requested directory number.
In an article titled “Voice Recognition Workstation Phone System,” published in the IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin of March 1994, pages 479-80 there is described a system for directory lookup combining voice recognition techniques with a language translation program. The system is therefore able to respond to spoken requests and spoken commands.
Within a business enterprise, in addition to user's needs to query a directory as described above, there are many software applications running either in real time or periodically which need some of the same directory type of information as is provided by the user query system. None of the above-described developments address the unique challenges presented by such needs. In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, there is defined a new enterprise directory service which provides a capability for satisfying such needs. It is believed that this invention constitutes a significant advancement in the directory service art.